Do’s and Don’ts for Using USB Flash Drives [Full Guide]

As you know, USB flash drives are widely used in our daily life. It can be used to increase space, update firmware, install Windows, back up data, etc. Besides, it is one of the storage devices that is used to store data for decades. No matter what you use it for, you should pay attention to do’s and don’ts for using USB flash drives.

These tips for using USB help you use USB properly and safely. They are even useful for extending the USB lifespan.

Do’s for Using USB Flash Drives

To avoid data loss or keep your USB safe, follow the tips for using USB that are summarized as follows.

Securely remove the USB drive: If you unplug the USB drive from your PC suddenly, it may cause USB drive corruption or data read/write errors, resulting in data loss. Therefore, click on the Safely Remove Hardware option whenever you remove the USB from the computer. Unplug the USB drive after the “it is safe to remove hardware” message appears.

Keep it clean: Once water or dust enters the inside of the drive, it will lead to serious damage to the chip and malfunction of the memory chip. Besides, oil or water on your finger can erode and damage the metal contacts. So, you need to always keep your USB drive clean. You’d better cover the USB drive with a cap when not in use or put it in a box, purse, pouch, or other reliable place.

Run anti-virus and anti-malware software: A virus-infected USB drive can infect computers or other connected devices, which leads to file deletion, data corruption, and even drive freezing. If so, you need to use data recovery programs like MiniTool Partition Wizard and MiniTool Power Data Recovery to recover data. To protect your USB drive from viruses or malware, you should run antivirus and anti-malware software periodically.

Back up files regularly: Any storage device is vulnerable to damage due to reasons like sudden power loss, program crashes, operating system crashes, etc. There’s no exception for USB flash drives too. To keep data on the USB drive safe, back up it to another device with a free USB image tool. Once you experience data loss while using the USB flash drive, restore the data with the backup you’ve made.

Encrypt files or folders saved on the USB drive: In addition to backing up data, you can also encrypt the USB data to obtain extra security. To be specific, this operation keeps your USB drive from virus infection.

Further reading:

MiniTool Partition Wizard is a multifunctional partition manager. It enables you to back up data, hard disk, and the Windows system with ease. As a USB formatter, it allows you to format USB drives over 32GB to FAT32 smoothly. For deleted/formatted/lost data, this partition software can help you scan and recover it.

MiniTool Partition Wizard DemoClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Don’ts for Using USB Flash Drives

Though USB flash drives have a limited lifespan, you can try your best to extend it. To do that, here are some tips for using USB drives. On the contrary, if you do the following things, you may shorten the USB lifespan.

Don’t keep the USB drive connected when not in use: The operating system will continuously write on the cells of the flash drive once it is connected to the system. This will increase the usage rate and the wear & tear of the flash drive, shortening the lifespan of the USB drive.

Don’t directly edit files on the USB flash drive: You should remove the USB drive when you are going to change or edit files on the USB drive because this will consume the limited amount of read/writes that a USB can do within its lifetime. Simply put, it will shorten the USB lifespan. Instead, you should set up a scratch folder where you can save all the work that you’re doing. After that, save this folder onto your USB.

Don’t run software from the USB drive: Multiple read/write cycles will be used at once if you run a program from the flash drive, which will degrade the life of the drive.

Don’t defragment your USB flash drive: Defragmentation is a way to boost hard drive performance by limiting hard disk head movements. However, the performance of the USB drive won’t be affected by the time taken to move a mechanical head. Moreover, defragmenting on the sensitive electronic drive will erode the USB drive. Hence, don’t defragment your flash drive.

Don’t format USB drives with file systems that are unique to a single operating system. If you use the same USB drive on different systems, it may corrupt the file system that is not supported by the system.